Lin Wanwan froze.
Her entire world seemed to have been muted at that moment.
The sounds of wind, birdsong, and the faint barking of dogs in the distance... all receded like the tide. All that remained in her senses was the unbelievable scene before her, a scene that seemed to freeze the very blood in her body.
What did she see?
Is it...is it that my eyesight is failing due to old age?
Lin Wanwan subconsciously raised her hand, blinked hard, and even rubbed her eyes, which were no longer clear, trying to dispel the unreal "illusion" in front of her.
However, it was no use.
When she opened her eyes again, the image had not disappeared; instead, it had become... clearer, more... real!
It's right there!
Right beside her, above the head of the old man who was sleeping peacefully in the rocking chair!
Right there in that blank area that she had long forgotten and had grown accustomed to!
Right there in that area she thought had been gone forever because of the head injury, that area she thought was just a fleeting "Easter egg" of happiness...
one……
Something she knew to the core was slowly, very slowly, emerging!
It was a pixelated silhouette.
At first, it was very faint, like a thin, almost transparent mist. But soon, its color began to become richer and clearer.
Pink!
It was the gentlest and sweetest pink she could remember!
Then, the pink outline began to continuously emit tiny, round bubbles. Those bubbles rose and bubbled upwards, then quietly burst, as if telling of endless, ceaseless love.
That was a...
A giant, animated emoji that's constantly bubbling with happiness!
Lin Wanwan's breathing stopped completely at that moment.
Her heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand and then violently thrown into the clouds! Ecstasy, shock, bewilderment, sorrow... countless complex emotions exploded in her chest!
it……
It's back?!
The golden touch that had accompanied her for most of her life, and then disappeared for many years, has returned without warning at this moment, in the twilight of their lives?!
This...this is not an illusion!
This is not an Easter egg!
This is a resolute, unquestionable, and time-traveling...return!
Lin Wanwan's lips trembled slightly uncontrollably. Her gaze was fixed intently on the slowly forming emoji, as if afraid that it would disappear again if she blinked.
Finally, under her gaze, the huge, pink, bubbling animated emoticon appeared completely and fully!
And in the very center of that emoji, two large characters, also made of pink pixels and characters she could never forget, slowly and resolutely lit up—
[Heartbeat.gif]
...
...
[Heart-fluttering.gif]!
The moment Lin Wanwan saw those two words, it was as if countless long-sealed memory gates were simultaneously flung open in her mind!
The surging torrent of time, carrying countless frozen moments, instantly submerged her!
Before her eyes was no longer the white-haired old man sleeping beside her.
At this moment, time and space experienced a wondrous overlap and intersection!
She seemed to see herself in that hunting camp decades ago, where they had just survived a life-or-death ordeal.
When the young emperor treated the arrow wound on her shoulder, for the first time, his eyes, which were always filled with coldness and vigilance, revealed a heartache and lingering fear that even he himself had not noticed.
And at that very moment, right above his head, this pink, slightly shy and fluttering "heart-fluttering" GIF appeared quietly for the first time!
That was the first time he truly felt his heart flutter for her.
The scene shifts again!
She saw it again, that bloody night of the palace coup, when everything had settled down, he was covered in blood, yet he insisted on kneeling before her on one knee, promising to give her the empire as his dowry.
Just as he raised his head and gazed deeply at her with eyes filled with stars and love!
This enormous "Heartbeat.gif," brimming with boundless love and unwavering commitment, once again, like fireworks, burst brilliantly above his head!
That was his deepest and most resolute attraction to her.
One time, it was the fluttering of first love.
Once, it was a deep love that transcended life and death.
And now...
Lin Wanwan's gaze slowly, slowly, was drawn back from the surging memories to the present moment.
She looked at the old man sleeping peacefully beside her, at his aged, wrinkled sleeping face, and then at the same pink bubble above his head that was still emitting pink bubbles, just like it had been decades ago.
Her heart felt as if it had been struck by something, both fiercely and gently.
turn out to be……
So, it's always been there?!
It did not disappear.
It's not an Easter egg that appears only occasionally.
It simply...retired.
After she learned to stop relying on it and to love him with her heart, it quietly retreated to the background, handing the stage over to them completely.
And now, as they both reached the end of their lives, as he fell into his most peaceful and unguarded slumber, it... returned.
Like a loyal old friend who had witnessed their lives, he quietly peeked out and revealed to her the final and most eternal secret.
Lin Wanwan could no longer control her emotions.
She suddenly reached out and tightly covered her mouth, trying not to make a sound so as not to wake the person next to her.
However, the tears that welled up could no longer be held back.
Large, hot tears welled up in her eyes, which were no longer young, and silently slid down her wrinkled cheeks.
it……
It has always been there.
His feelings for her began on that night decades ago and have never ceased.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com